I have Friedreich's Ataxia, a neuromuscular disease which affects balance, strength, coordination, endurance, and a host of other bodily functions. I can't speak for other types of ataxia. Also, I think that falling may be more individualized than some other symptoms.
That said, I figure about 75-80% of the falls I have are backwards. That may be because I use a walker and usually manage to push back from it when I am falling. Or it may be that my considerable backside provides the necessary mass to redirect falls in that direction. I like to think it is the former.
A spectacular fall, backward:
In August through October of 1996, I had a series of falls, 4 in fact. In the
first fall I injured my left foot, badly bruised, but not broken. The second
fall I injured my right foot, and again bruised my left foot. The third fall
was on a Sunday. I really banged up my left foot again and re-bruised my right.
I went to the doctor on Monday, Sept. 30, and x-rays confirmed "no broken bones."
The very next morning I lost my balance at the top of the stairs after my morning
toilet. I, like many others with balance problems, negotiate stairs backwards.
That is, if you took a snapshot of me on the stairs I always appear to be going
up the stairs, but indeed, half the time I am going down. Otherwise, I'd be
in the "Pent House Suite," right? The staircase in my house has handrails on
both sides.
So the fourth fall in this series was a backward fall. I fell down the top stair, and even though I couldn't see the other 13 stairs, I knew they were there, beckoning me! I managed to grab the half wall to keep from doing a Keystone Kops fall, but I landed with my right foot underneath me, the edge of my foot at an angle on the very front of the step. My house mate had to climb over me to get behind me to keep me from going down the rest of the stairs. So I went back to the doctor late in the afternoon. This time x-rays confirmed a break on the toe end of the fifth metatarsal of my right foot (that's the long bone just before the toe). It was quite painful and they do not put a cast on or anything. It took several months (5) to heal, and by then I had lost much muscle tone because I had to spend so much time in bed.
An even more spectacular fall, forward:
But about seven years ago, while coming home from work one day, I fell through
my front door. It was the door to my apartment and the spring closing mechanism
(for fire safety) began to close the heavy steel door much more quickly than
I anticipated. I leaned over my walker to give the door another shove. But I
lost my balance, and hit the door with considerable force, flinging it wide.
The door, now fully open, was not there to grab as I started to topple. Then
the door springs kicked in, and at full extension moved the door with incredible
rapidity toward my teetering self and smacked me in the forehead. I crumpled,
as I am wont to do under those circumstances.
I had no broken bones, or even serious bruises. The walker broke my fall. And I broke the walker. It resembled a pile of recycled concrete reinforcement bars. $400 down the drain. That was my second walker, named "Street Walker 1."
My original walker, a little aluminum job with just two small wheels that made terrible noises as I scurried along, was named "Johnny Walker," after the Scotch, because when using it I looked like I had imbibed a great quantity of liquor. The MDA replaced Street Walker the next day as it was beyond salvage. A couple of years latter I acquired "Sky Walker," as in "...May the Force be with you."
Sky Walker is very sturdy. Like a army tank. It has good working brakes. The weight makes it a much more stable thing to brace against if I start to fall. It has a seat if I get tired. And, most importantly, it has a basket big enough to carry $15 worth of groceries, or a month of reading material, a cell phone, and even a bottle of water. It's so ... so ... 90s.
Falling backward is usually better, if you can keep from falling on your tailbone or hitting your head. A room full of overstuffed furniture is almost fun, falling from one safe spot to another. Kind of like the ataxic version of a trampoline. Falling forwards is much more dangerous as we Ataxians are not usually able to move our arms fast enough to protect our faces. And the nose is almost always the first body part to meet the floor if one falls forward. Followed very quickly by the lips and even the teeth if you didn't remember to close your mouth on the way down.
I've chipped teeth, broken my jaw and broken my nose numerous times. Fortunately, my nose and jaw heal straight and those injuries leave no physical scars. If one looks closely at my front teeth they resemble "crazed" glass, you know, the kind with small cracks. The dentist tells me the teeth are strong and the cracks are "cosmetic" in nature. I don't know about that. Twenty years ago I also took a bad fall forward and bit the inside of my mouth. I required 15 stitches on the inside of my cheek. I had never had novocaine, but the doctor who was playing the seamstress that night insisted, "Otherwise, I am sure you'll kick me." I think I would have, too.
Oh well, that's life. I hope you all are doing well and don't fall too often. I realize, though, that if I can just keep falling for 25 or 30 more years I'll be real old.
Hey, there's humor above, if you chuckled or laughed, good. If not, well, you're taking life much too seriously.